Poor product quality

Spectra Service Bulletin

First with any product water quality issue you need to check the calibration of the salinity tester that you are using. Calibrating the hand held tester with the proper known calibrating solution does this. Check the tester against another or against a known water source before making any conclusions.

Next you need to understand that membranes are not an exact science and that two identical systems can have a different product quality result. World health standards deem water of up to 1000 PPM of total dissolved solids acceptable for drinking consumption. We consider any thing below 700 PPM acceptable but not ideal and anything below 500 PPM excellent. Factors that could affect water quality are addressed below.

1. Low system flow can equate to poor product quality. (See the low product flow bulletin). If you own a 200-C system with a worn feed pump you could expect your water quality to suffer. The 380-C systems have fewer water quality issues due to the higher system flow and pressures.
    
2. Damage to the membrane by chlorine contamination. Flushing with the system with chlorinated water will irreparably damage the membrane. Any charcoal filter must be of proper specification to be suitable. There is no test for this except the process of elimination of other causes.
    
3. Dirty or scaled membranes. A dirty or scaled membrane can result on poor water quality. Fouled membranes generally require a higher operating pressure. If operating pressures are above normal then cleaning is indicated. If the system pressures are within operating normal range, cleaning may have little result.
    
4. Mechanical leakage within the membrane pressure vessel. This is an unlikely but possible cause of poor water quality on the old style Codeline pressure vessels (white) that we used in the past The Spectra pressure has a double O-ring arrangement so that it is almost impossible for high pressure brine to leak past the product O-ring.
    

If system flow is 1.5 GPM or above, the membrane is clean, the product flows are consistent with the system flow and the water quality is still not acceptable then replacement of the membrane is indicated.

Note: on our standard systems the high-pressure pump operates on a 10% displacement. If system flows is 1.5 GPM that would equate to 90 gallons per hour. 10% of 90 will yield 9 Gallons per hour of product. Flow checks can be done by measuring flow into a bucket or container of a known volume. If you divert the brine discharge and the product water into the container it will equate the total system flow.
 

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